The lawsuit alleges that Agri Stats Inc. was hired to collect information about production volumes, facilities and breeds and the chicken companies used that information to police their price-fixing scheme.

Since a food distributor Maplevale Farms of Falconer, N.Y., filed a similar suit in September 2016, restaurant and retail chains, as well as some consumer products companies and distributors have filed additional suits.

The Walmart lawsuit does not name Fieldale Farms as a defendant because it has agreed to pay $2.5 million.